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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Cities' Areas of Influence in Brazil

Since 1966, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) has been carrying on a research on the Brazilian network of cities. The project is called REGIC - Regiões de Influência de Cidades (which I would poorly translate as " Cities' Areas of Influence ").

The methodology used in this research has changed a lot from its first edition in 1966. The latest 2007 edition, however, is pretty much excellent. The authors address the Brazilian network and hierarchy of cities based on a massive data set. It incorporates all sort of spatial connections such as:

Federal public administration

Business management

Passengers transport (flight and Road connections)

Bank branches

Education institutions

Health services

Density of Internet domains

Television networks and even Destination of agricultural production (I bet I have forgotten something)